FAQs
- About Project Red Stripe
- The team
- The idea
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- How will the team gather ideas?
- Why are ideas being solicited from outside of The Economist Group?
- What will I get for submitting an idea?
- How will you select the idea to implement?
- What will you do after having brought your idea to market?
- Do you expect the final product to make money?
- What will happen with other good ideas that haven’t been selected?
About Project Red Stripe
- What is Project Red Stripe?
- We are a team of six Economist Group employees from around the world (most of whom, until this project started, had never met before). Our goal is to develop something that is innovative and web-based and bring it to market.
- What are the constraints and resources?
- Creativity loves both constraints and freedom. We have six months and a budget of £100,000, but can use any brand or content owned by The Economist Group. We can come up whatever we want – even something entirely unrelated to The Economist Group.
- What will the team do?
- We will first develop a process to attract ideas, pick one or more of these ideas to develop, and then bring the idea(s) to market.
- How did you come up with this project idea?
- Mike Seery, the CIO of the Economist Group, who is also the team’s leader, has written a blog post about how this all came about.
- Where is the project based?
- Our digs are at AMV-BBDO, The Economist’s ad agency, on Marylebone Road in London. Take a look at our web cam.
- I hear you get free breakfasts. Is this true?
- Yes, but only before 9am – an incentive to come to work early.
- How do I give Project Red Stripe my feedback and suggestions?
- We would love to hear from you. In fact, hearing from you is the best way to make Project Red Stripe a success. To give us feedback — good, bad, or ugly — please add your comments directly on the blog.
The team
- Who is on the team?
- Project Red Stripe team members include Steven Chiu, Stewart Robinson, Mike Seery, Tom Shelley, Ludwig Siegele and Joanna Slykerman. Brief introductions about each team member can be found on the Project Red Stripe blog.
- How were team members recruited?
- All 1,100 employees of The Economist Group could apply to be a part of the Project Red Stripe team. Interested applicants were invited to submit an idea for the project.
- What will the team members do after the project?
- Team members will return to the jobs they held before Project Red Stripe.
The idea
- How will the team gather ideas?
- Ideas will be collected from a variety of sources, such as Economist readers, the blogosphere and friends.
- Why are ideas being solicited from outside of The Economist Group?
- Because we don’t have all the answers – and want to be as open as possible.
- What will I get for submitting an idea?
- Unfortunately, we can give no direct reward or compensation for your contribution. If, however, Project Red Stripe chooses to develop an idea you have submitted, you will receive recognition on the Project Red Stripe web site and a free six-month subscription to Economist.com.
- How will you select the idea to implement?
- We will evaluate each idea against a set of criteria that the Project Red Stripe team have predetermined.
- What will you do after having brought your idea to market?
- The idea will continue to be developed after the Project Red Stripe team return to their jobs.
- Do you expect the final product to make money?
- The potential business model or profitability of the idea is one of many criteria being used to evaluate each idea.
